CONTINUED FOLLOW-UP RESULTS IN INSULIN-SHOCK THERAPY AND IN CONTROL CASES
EARL D. BOND M. D.1
1 The Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa.
This is a study of one hospital working out for itself answers to questions raised by the use of insulin-shock in schizophrenia.
At the Pennsylvania Hospital there have been immediate and important gains in one-half of all patients, and in two-thirds of acute cases (less than 18 months in duration).
After two years these gains remained in only one-fourth of all patients, but in one-half of the acute cases.
Control cases in the same hospital were found to show similar gains, two years from the time of admission, in one-sixth of all cases. These gains were without important relation to the previous duration of illness.
The experience of one hospital indicates that insulin-shock is a strikingly effective agent in schizophrenia. It also indicates a need for supportive measures to hold more firmly the gains that come quickly but which often tend to disappear.
